If only ospreys could talk, what stories they could tell us! We would really love to have a chat with T6, to ask her where she has been for the past four days!

A few weeks ago she had somehow injured her right leg, and was nest-bound for a while until she recovered enough to fly to other perches. She was perfectly well in herself and was being well fed, and as such she healed quickly. Even so, she didn’t leave the bay very much. Then on Saturday morning (30th July) she flew off towards Lax Hill at 07:30, and that was the last we saw of her until last night!

Juveniles have been known to disappear for a day or so at a time in the past, before returning to the place they know they will receive food. T6 and her siblings have now been flying for four weeks, and as such are all extremely confident on the wing. However, when T6 still had not returned by Monday, we began to wonder if she was OK. There were a number of things that could explain her disappearance. Obviously there was the worst situation, that we really didn’t want to think about until we had no choice. Then there was the possibility she was feeling adventurous and perhaps travelled a great distance. Maybe she had found one of the other nest sites – in the past youngsters have been known to visit other nests in the area, and there is always the possibility there could get fed there. We even thought there was the slightest chance that, being strong and healthy, she could have set off on her migration incredibly early.

Unfortunately, we’ll never know where T6 has been, but we’re very glad she’s back! She returned to the nest in Manton Bay last night, Tuesday 2nd August, at roughly 8pm, looking completely fine, albeit a bit scruffy. Volunteers Tony, Judith, Tom and Ann were in Waderscrape hide when T6 came back, and Jan happened to be watching the webcam at the time, so several people witnessed her return! This morning, Lloyd Park watched T6 on the nest as she tucked into a fish, and recorded these videos of her.